Buying into DVC with Blind Faith

In June of 2018, my husband and I went to Walt Disney World. He had never been in his life (oh the horror!) and I hadn’t been in about 20 years (what was wrong with us?!?). It was time, and I really wanted us to experience all that the Mouse had to offer. We left our 1 and 3 old kids with Grandma and headed off for the time of our lives! We had so much fun, putting in over 20,000 steps each day and just taking everything in.

I can clearly remember when we first heard about Disney Vacation Club. We were having lunch at Skipper’s Canteen in Magic Kingdom, and somehow, we started up a conversation with the couple at the next table. They were from Ohio, recently married with no kids yet. And they were DVC members. They came to Walt Disney World every year and loved the flexibility that ownership gave them. We were intrigued, especially when we heard we could get a $100 gift card and 3 FastPass+ each for listening to the presentation. A seed was sown.

We went back to Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort that evening, where we were staying on that trip, and made an appointment to be picked up the next day for our DVC presentation. The next day came, and a Minnie van promptly picked us up and headed towards Disney Springs. We were greeted as we exited the car and brought to a door that seemed so secretive and elusive. Once inside the office, we were offered a myriad of snacks and drinks, all of which we happily accepted.

Our sales representative was very kind and patient. We never felt pushed to buy in. He answered all of our questions and encouraged us to go home and do our own research. We walked out $100 richer and ready to go have fun with our extra 3 Fastpass+! We briefly talked about DVC throughout the rest of our trip, but ultimately decided we didn’t want to buy into a timeshare. The trip was amazing, and eventually we had to return to our kids, jobs and real life.

Between the summer of 2018 and 2019 I did SO MUCH RESEARCH about DVC. I learned a lot from Facebook groups, blogs, articles and general conversation with others (turns out my daughter’s preschool teacher was a DVC member too!). We planned our trip for June 2019 with our kids, and it came and went so fast. But just as expected, we had the most memorable time and our daughter was able to celebrate her 3rd birthday in Walt Disney World.

It’s important to note that on our first trip we stayed at the Polynesian. And this year, we did a split stay between the Contemporary and Beach Club. We love deluxe resorts for the amenities, location and conveniences they offer (especially with small kids – parents will pay almost anything to make the trip easier). After our last trip in June 2019, I thought about how much money we had spent on the resorts. It was a lot. We could have easily bought into DVC by this point, and because of this, I dug deeper to decide ownership was truly for us.

And we decided it was! What sealed the deal for us was knowing how much we had already spent over the last 12 months, and that prices would only ever increase. Disney Vacation Club gave us the ability to secure our resort stays over the next 40 years at 2019 prices. This was very appealing.

In July 2019, we bought 100 points direct with Disney at Bay Lake Tower. And 2 months later, we bought an 80-point resale contract at Boardwalk Villas. We never saw a DVC model when we did our tour. All we had seen were pictures and videos from the internet and social media. We hadn’t ever rented points before to see what the experience was like. And we never actually stepped into any part of a DVC building within the resorts we did stay in. However, we are so excited about the endless possibilities we have with our DVC membership over the next few decades for our family, friends and hopefully future grandchildren.

Disney Vacation Club has opened a whole new world of vacation opportunities for us. We are so grateful that we can do this, and look forward to creating a lifetime of fun, laughter and memories.